Sicilian Inspired Swiss Chard Lasagna with Golden Raisins and Pine nuts

Since Dan has been working so hard for the last few months I wanted to make him something special tonight for dinner that he can take tomorrow to work for lunch. I have mentioned before how much he loves my spinach lasagna. Today I wanted to make lasagna but I thought a different flavor was in order. I had purchased a beautiful bunch of rainbow chard last weekend at the farmers’ market which I thought would be perfect in the lasagna. I couldn’t quite decide between using walnuts or going in a Sicilian direction with the chard. In the end Sicily won out. To mimic the flavors of a dish I make with dark greens I have added golden raisins, pine nuts and hot pepper flakes to this lasagna. In order to bump up the flavor a little I decided I would like balsamic glazed onions and garlic to top the lasagna. In lieu of tomato sauce I made a light veggie sauce which I thickened with cornstarch. Here is what I made:

Sicilian Inspired Swiss Chard Lasagna with Golden Raisins and Pine nuts
Serves 4

Balsamic onion topping Ingredients:

1 yellow onion, peeled and very thinly sliced (allow to stand 10 minutes before heating so the thiopropanal sulfoxide can develop)
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced (allow to stand 10 minutes before heating so the allicin can develop)
½ cup water, divided in half
2 tablespoons good balsamic vinegar (I buy the 18 year old vinegar from Napa Valley Naturals)
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
crushed red pepper flakes, to taste (I used 2 good pinches)

Swiss chard filling Ingredients:

1 bunch Swiss chard, cut into julienne (my bunch was approximately 12 ounces before it was washed)
¼ cup golden raisins, or to taste
2 tablespoons pine nuts, or to taste
1 pinch nutmeg, or to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Tofu ricotta filling ingredients:

14 ounce block firm or extra firm organic tofu (without soy protein isolates), thoroughly drained
¼ cup raw cashews, soaked for at least 30 minutes and well drained (this adds richness that is missing in most tofu ricotta recipes)
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast (a touch of this adds a buttery background, too much will make it cheesy in a bad way)
2 cloves garlic, peeled
2 teaspoons dehydrated onions
1 pinch nutmeg, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 lemon, zested (to brighten the flavor of the filling)
2 tablespoons brown rice flour (this helps the tofu set up so it is more like ricotta)

Sauce ingredients:

2 cup vegetables stock (I used homemade from the freezer made without salt)
1 lemon juiced (use the lemon zested above)
2 tablespoons cornstarch (to thicken the sauce)

Noodles:

6 whole wheat lasagna noodles, par cooked (cook approximately 75% through so that it will absorb some of the sauce and help the lasagna to set up)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, I used my convection setting. Line a loaf pan with parchment or aluminum foil to serve as a sling to remove the lasagna easily from the pan if you are going to serve it right away. If you plan to cook it ahead of time it will release easily in one piece once it has cooled a bit.

Combine the onions, garlic and ¼ cup of water and cook, stirring frequently, until the water has evaporated. Add the second ¼ of water and cook until that has evaporated. Now add the balsamic vinegar, black pepper and crushed red pepper flakes and cook until the vinegar has become a glaze and the onions look like this. Refrigerate the onions until the lasagna has baked.

Trim and clean the Swiss chard. Microwave the chard until it has just wilted. Add the remaining ingredients (raisins, pine nuts, nutmeg and black pepper) and taste for flavor. Adjust any of the ingredients to suit your taste. Set aside.

For the tofu filling combine the ingredients in your food processor and process until the cashews have been completely broken down. Taste the tofu filling and adjust the flavors to your taste.

To make the sauce combine the ingredients and whisk until the cornstarch has been completely incorporated. Now cook until the sauce thickens and the color goes from opaque to translucent. Taste for seasoning and adjust to your taste.

The reason I continue to tell you to taste all the components is that lasagna is nothing but the sum of its parts. Each individual layer needs to suit your taste or you won’t enjoy the combined dish as much as you could.

To make the lasagna place 1/3 of the Swiss chard mixture in the bottom of the pan, add 1/3 of the sauce. Top with 2 par cooked lasagna noodles, cut to fit. Now top the lasagna noodles with 1/3 of the tofu mixture. Continue adding layers like the first ones, chard, sauce, noodles and tofu until the pan is full.

Cover the loaf pan with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes or until the noodles are completely cooked. I check the noodles by inserting a paring knife into the pan. If the noodles are cooking the knife will slide in easily.

Allow the lasagna to cool for at least 20 minutes before trying to cut the lasagna.

When you are ready to serve heat the balsamic onions and top the slice of lasagna with the balsamic onions or serve the balsamic onions on the side.  I added a few pine nuts to the top as well that aren't included in the recipe.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 356.86
Calories From Fat (29%) - 104.67

Total Fat - 12.24g
Saturated Fat - 1.31g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 199.14mg
Potassium - 684.88mg
Total Carbohydrates - 50.45g
Fiber - 6.95g
Sugar - 10.95g
Protein - 17.62g

Comments:

This is not your usual lasagna but it is good. Even my hubby who loves the traditional spinach lasagna I normally make said this was very good and he would eat it again without complaint. This is higher praise than you realize since he really loves the spinach version.

Food today:

Lunch today was very simple for me. I made myself a quick salad of ½ head of shredded romaine, a little roasted pepper fat free hummus (this recipe with roasted red pepper added), salsa, and a little cashew crème fraiche.

To accompany my salad I opted for a cup of frozen grapes. As often as these turn up can you tell how much I love them?

Knowing that Dan wasn’t going to be home before 7pm I opted for a mid afternoon snack that consisted of: falafel, roasted red pepper fat free hummus, a bit of cashew crème fraiche and green onions and celery to dip into the hummus.

I also had two peaches sprinkled with a few white chia seeds.

Dinner tonight was a slice of lasagna pictured above.

To accompany the lasagna we had one of our favorite salads: romaine, mango, apple, shredded carrot, and mint dressed with miso and mirin. This is such a winning combination you really should try it.

Time for me to sign off and spend a little time with my hubby before it is time to turn in. I hope you had a great day. Talk to you all again tomorrow.

Wild Mushroom and Corn Lasagna and Miscellaneous Stuff

Since it is the weekend that means a mid-day meal with my elderly parents today. I have noticed that they seem to prefer cooked food to raw. Dan loves lasagna and because the weather was somewhat cool today I decided we could crank the oven up. Lasagna is a meal that everyone enjoys. I wanted to make a different version of lasagna for the one Dan loves which is posted here. I decided a simple mushroom and corn version would be good today.  I wish I had taken the time to let this cool longer before I sliced it. I am not happy with the photo above. But the taste is good which is more important.  I am working on not being so much of a perfectionist. ;-) Here is what I made this afternoon:

Wild Mushroom and Corn Lasagna
Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 cups mixed dried mushrooms
3 cups water
1 red onion, thinly sliced (allow to stand 10 minutes before cooking)
6 cloves garlic, finely minced (allow to stand 10 minutes before cooking)
6 whole wheat pasta noodles
14 ounces extra firm tofu, drained
2 tablespoons brown rice flour (any flour will do)
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
½ tablespoon dehydrated minced onions
1 cup frozen corn, defrosted
1/3 cup raw cashews, soaked for 30 minutes and drained
½ cup oats, ground into flour
strained mushroom soaking liquid from above
½ teaspoon thyme, dried
black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Combine the mushrooms and water and microwave until the water is hot. Allow the mushrooms to soak for 30 minutes. Then strain the mushrooms and cooking liquid. You want to make certain to capture any sediment from the dried mushrooms. You can use a strainer lined with two of three layers or cheesecloth, or damp paper towel. You can also use a chinois. Make certain the mushrooms are bite-sized pieces.

Cook the onions and garlic in a little mushroom cooking liquid (start with ¼ cup) until they are soft and starting to get brown. You may need to add a tablespoon of liquid while they cook if the water evaporates.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place a slice of aluminum foil across the longest sides of the loaf pan and bottom. You will use this foil as a sling to lift the lasagna out of the pan. The aluminum foil is optional but will make things easier. 

Cook the pasta noodles until they are approximately 75% done. You want them underdone so they absorb some of the mushroom sauce and provide additional structure to the lasagna.

In the food processor combine the tofu, flour, nutritional yeast and minced onions and process until mostly smooth. You will still have little bits of onions in the tofu filling. Stir the corn into the filling by hand so it remains whole.

In your blender grind the oats into flour, add the raw cashews and half of the mushroom cooking liquid. Process until everything is completely smooth. Pour this into the pot with the onions. Place the rest of the mushroom liquid in your blender to clean out the remaining ingredients. Pour this into the pot with the onions and simmer until you have a thick sauce. It should look like a thick béchamel, like you would use to make croquettes (the consistency of mayonnaise). It needs to be this thick so the lasagna will have some structure.

To assemble start with a little of the mushroom sauce about a ¼ cup spread across the base of a loaf pan. Layer in noodles, tofu with corn, mushrooms, sauce, noodles …… etc. I ended with tofu filling topped with mushrooms. Cover the loaf pan with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes.  Test the lasagna with a paring knife inserted in the center to confirm the noodles are fully cooked.

Cool for at least 15-20 minutes to make it easier to serve. Otherwise it will slide apart like mine did. My timing today wasn’t good so there wasn’t sufficient time to cool the lasagna before I needed to plate. But it still tasted good. ;-)

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories 302.05
Calories From Fat (30%) - 92.07

Total Fat - 10.07g
Saturated Fat - 1.3g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 18.87mg
Potassium - 393.04mg
Total Carbohydrates - 37.75g
Fiber - 4.99g
Sugar - 1.35g
Protein - 15.78g

Comments:

I intentionally kept the components of this on the light side (flavor wise) so that the mushrooms would be the star of the dish. This lasagna has a big mushroom flavor. If you like mushrooms you should enjoy this lasagna. My father really seemed to like this and didn’t even grab for the salt shaker. I would say this was a success. Dan and I would absolutely have this again.

Mexican Zucchini Salad:

To start the meal I made a quick salad as follows: Spiralized zucchini, thinly sliced red bell peppers, diced tomatoes, defrosted sweet corn, salsa, avocado, parsley and cashew crème fraiche. This was a start to our meal.

My spiral slicer:

I get a lot of questions about my spiral slicer. I don’t have a separate slicer mine is an attachment to my mandoline. I bought this a few years ago at Williams Sonoma. But have not seen it there since. It is a DeBuyer mandoline with a spiral cutting attachment if you want to look for one.

Breakfast this morning:

We had a bowl of tropical fruit salad this morning for breakfast which included fresh pineapple, kiwi and dragon fruit. Dan also had a bowl of oatmeal with wild blueberries, flaxseeds and walnuts.

I am posting the dragon fruit separately because I got an email asking how to open the dragon fruit. I cut the fruit in half top to bottom,pictured above.

Then you can peel the skin from the fruit and cut it into chunks. It has a very mild flavor. I buy it more for the color; I like the white flesh with black seeds. The tastes reminds me of a kiwi with the flesh being more firm

Dinner tonight:

Dan and I were just chatting about dinner. At the moment we have no idea what we are going to do. The weather is gorgeous and we are considering a little al fresco dining but with such a late lunch we won’t be hungry for hours.

Unrelated notes:

The weather has been so beautiful the last few days. We have been enjoying the fresh air in the house. It is such a treat to have the windows open in July. Typically the weather this time of the year is hot and humid.

Since I doubt you read the comments on the blog, I wanted to point out what great success Lolly is having with E2L. I am so thrilled for her. You can read her comments here. She is going to be updating her blog with results soon. I for one can’t wait to read the details. However having her blood pressure drop significantly and quickly is fantastic news. Go Lolly! I am so thrilled for you! For those of you on the fence on the health benefits of E2L Lolly is regaining her health and fast.  I am so impressed with her results so far and wanted to share the great news. 

Time for me to get a few things done around here and figure out what we are doing for dinner. I also need to make a list for the farmers’ market tomorrow. Talk to you all again soon.

Italian Flavored Red Lentil and Brown Rice Soup and Our Day

Dan loves red lentil soup in a tomato base. So …. I make it often since it makes him happy. Since he was home for lunch today and the weather was gray and rainy I decided soup would be a good choice. This is a fast soup (45 minutes cooking and 2 minutes of prep). It is also something that most people can make from things they have on hand. Also this is a very budget friendly soup. I think it is perfect for a cool rainy day. Here is what I did:

Italian Flavored Red Lentil and Brown Rice Soup
Serves 2

Ingredients:

½ cup red lentils
½ cup brown rice
4 or 5 cups water (start with 4 cups and add more if necessary)
14 ounces of tomato sauce
1 yellow onion, peeled and finely diced (about 1 cup)
8 cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced (allow the garlic to stand for 10 minutes after you smash them so the allicin can develop since heat stops the process)
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning, dry
Salt and pepper, to taste
Hot pepper flakes or wet hots, if desired
1 teaspoon fennel seeds, if you want a Southern Italian flavor
Spinach, julienned, if you want added nutrition (I added about 4 cups for both nutrition and color)

Directions:

I toss everything into the pot together (except the spinach) and simmer until the rice and lentils are done. This takes about 45 minutes. If you are using the spinach add it just before serving so the heat of the soup wilts the leaves. This soup would also be good topped with tofu sour cream or tofu tahini sauce/dip.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 433.21
Calories From Fat (6%) - 25.9

Total Fat - 3.11g
Saturated Fat - 0.54g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 1070.11mg
Potassium - 1197.73mg
Total Carbohydrates - 85.7g
Fiber - 11.67g
Sugar - 11.54g
Protein - 19.95g

Comments:

This is a very filling soup and makes a huge serving. We had it today as our meal, no salad. If you are looking for something easy and filling this is a good choice.

Out and about:

After we gulped down the soup we need to run out the door. Before the follow up appointment with the doctor we decided to run by the health food store on the way. After the appointment we stopped at Marshalls and Costco since they were both close. We “needed” a few things from Costco, nothing much since we stopped there last week. Still I managed a cart that was almost full.

Insane right? How do two people manage to eat so much produce? I really have no idea but somehow we do it.

Dinner:

We didn’t get home until after 7:30pm. By the time everything was put away it was almost 8pm and we were both starving. Since I didn’t have any time to think about dinner I made a really fast veggie pasta with peanut sauce.

I didn’t measure things because we were famished but it was an extremely simple meal. While the pasta water came to a boil I chopped the onion, garlic, fresh ginger, broccoli, carrot and red bell pepper. I water sautéed those once the pasta was cooking. To the veggies I added a little reduced fat peanut butter and liquid aminos. I finished the plate with some black sesame seeds and dinner was on in 30 minutes or less. This is one of my favorite fast meals, not too exciting or exotic just really tasty.  When I have more time I prefer to have this over brown rice rather than whole wheat pasta, but tonight speed was of the essence.

Unrelated note:

Tomorrow morning is going to be a little hectic but should slow down after lunch. I will be back tomorrow as soon as I get a few minutes. I hope you all had great day. Talk to you later.

Raw Spaghetti with Sun-Dried Marinara, Nut Cheeze and Olives

This is one of those dishes that really doesn’t need a recipe. I am going to post one but believe me it isn’t necessary. Have any of noticed that many raw cookbooks make eating raw seem so time consuming or difficult? That really turned me off from raw food for a long time. Then I realized that raw food is as easy or difficult as you want to make it. This is one of those really fast dishes you can make when you are dog tired. The sun-dried tomato marinara will last for days in the refrigerator. The same can be said for the nut cheeze. The zucchini pasta is very fast. It takes longer to set up my mandoline that it does to cut the pasta. Here is what I did:

Raw Spaghetti
Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 large zucchini, well scrubbed
1 recipe sun-dried tomato marinara
6 olives, pitted and finely slivered
Nut cheese, as much as you want (we used about 2 tablespoons)

Directions:

Using your mandoline or spiral slicer cut the zucchini into thin threads. Top the zucchini spaghetti with as much sun-dried tomato marinara as you like. We tend to like ours lightly dressed. Top the sauce with olives and nut cheese. Serve cold.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories 166.08
Calories From Fat (43%) - 70.78

Total Fat - 8.48g
Saturated Fat - 1.24g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 231.51mg
Potassium - 1146.66mg
Total Carbohydrates - 22.4g
Fiber - 5.94g
Sugar - 6.49g
Protein - 5.57g

Comments:

This dish, including making the marinara (but not the nut cheese) took under 10 minutes to prepare. It is one of the faster that I make for dinner. Raw food doesn’t have to be time consuming or complicated. This was made from ordinary ingredients and without a dehydrator. This is a great dish to make when the weather gets warm and you don’t want to eat anything hot.

Even though this was low in calories this has a reasonable amount of nutrition. Each serving contains approximately 1,600IU of vitamin A, 80mg of vitamin C, 65mg of calcium, 90mcg of folate, 130mcg of phosphorus, and 65mg of magnesium.

Unrelated notes:

Today has been a little unstructured at our house with me not focusing on any one thing for too long. Tomorrow I am going to try getting a few things crossed off my to-do list. There may not be as many posts as usual, but I will definitely post at least once.

I hope you are all having a great day. I will chat with you tomorrow.

Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Broccoli and Spinach Pesto

For Valentine’s Day my hubby wanted a pasta dish. Since I we don’t have pasta as often as we used to I obliged and made him a whole wheat pasta with healthy pesto. I used walnuts in place of pine nuts for the omega 3 fatty acids. I omitted the olive oil all together and used a little nutritional yeast to give the sauce a little cheesy umami in the background. Lemon was added to up the flavor in this low fat dish.

Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Broccoli and Spinach Pesto

Serves 8

Ingredients:

1 pound whole wheat spaghetti, cooked until al dente
4 cups broccoli, lightly steamed
4 cups baby spinach, raw
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
¼ cup walnuts
Water necessary to process
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine the broccoli, spinach, lemon zest and juice, garlic, nutritional yeast, and walnuts in your processor and process until smooth. Add as much water as is necessary to create a paste/sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Toss the hot pasta and pesto together until combined. If the pesto is too thick adds some of the pasta cooking water and continue to toss until the pesto loosens enough to evenly coat the pasta.

I served this with sun-dried tomato marinara and little sprinkle of my homemade vegan parmesan.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 253.69
Calories From Fat (12%) - 29.53

Total Fat - 3.47g
Saturated Fat - 0.42g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 36.34mg
Potassium - 401.4mg
Total Carbohydrates - 48.55g
Fiber - 3.04g
Sugar - 1.43g
Protein - 11.6g

Comments:

Most pesto recipes are loaded with fat from the olive oil, nuts and cheese. This pesto is crazy healthy compared to the traditional versions. If you use oil when cooking you may want to either increase the walnuts or add a little extra virgin olive oil. We found this to be great as it was.

Each serving of this pasta contained approximately 2,200IU of vitamin A, 50mg of vitamin C, 90mg of calcium, 120mg of folate, 135mcg of vitamin K, 210mg of phosphorus, 115mg of magnesium, and 44mcg of selenium. Not too bad for 2 ounce serving of pasta with a little pesto.

Unrelated Note:

I have a crazy dish planned for tonight. It is one of those things that could go either way. Hopefully it will be worth sharing. Even if it is bust I will let you know what I did since it may spark an idea for one of you. I will be back later tonight with the recipe.

Their highnesses the felines were all well behaved today for their grooming session. Since they have long hair they don’t enjoy being brushed. But today no one was ill tempered and tried to bite or scratch. Luck must have been with me today.

I came across this recipe this morning on the Vegetarian Times site.  Since I am going to try it I thought some of you may be interested so here is the link to a Dr. Fuhrman green smoothie.

Seitan Cacciatore

Chicken Cacciatore (or Cacciatora if you are using proper Italian) was always a family favorite at our house. I loved it because it was easy and tasty. Additionally it contained pasta. My Italian DNA loves anything with pasta. Is it the healthiest thing? Well … not so much. However, some things are just too important to give up completely. So tonight we decided to have Cacciatore made with seitan.

My hubby loves my steam baked seitan cutlets. They are great used as a substitute for chicken breasts but they also work in dishes like this that contain sliced chicken. In order for them to hold their shape you need to add them at the end of cooking, as they will begin to fall apart if simmered too long in the sauce.

Cacciatore means hunters style in Italian. Pollo alla Cacciatora is a dish that is simple braised chicken with mushrooms, onions, tomatoes and pancetta. I have always made this dish with white wine (which I think is traditional). Sage is something that I added for its muskiness. I love the earthiness that sage adds to the dish. It is also good with white beans in the dish. Sometimes I serve if over polenta, but my family prefers pasta so that is what we had tonight. Here is what we had for dinner with a big green salad.

Seitan Cacciatore
Makes 6 main dish servings

Ingredients:

1 cup dried mixed mushrooms
2 cups water
1 red onion, peeled and finely diced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced (allow to stand 10 minutes before cooking so allicin can develop)
¾ cup dry white wine (like pinot grigio)
28 ounces of diced canned tomatoes
1 teaspoon oregano, dried
½ tablespoon fresh sage leaves, finely minced
½ tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves, finely minced
¼ cup black olives, thinly sliced
1 pinch crushed red peppers
3 seitan cutlets, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
4 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely minced
vegan parmesan – optional
1 pound whole-wheat pasta
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Combine the dried mushrooms and water and microwave until hot (three minutes in my microwave). Allow the mushrooms to sit in the water for 30 minutes to soften.

Fill a large pot with 6 quarts of water to cook the pasta. Bring the water to a boil and add a tablespoon of kosher salt before you cook the pasta.

Cook the onions and garlic in white wine until they are soft. Then add the tomatoes, oregano, sage, rosemary, olives and crushed red peppers and simmer for 30 minutes while the mushrooms are softening.

Strain the mushrooms soaking liquid through a cheesecloth lined fine wire mesh strainer. Place the soaking liquid in the tomato sauce pan. Chop the mushrooms so that they are bite size and add them to the tomato sauce pan.

When you toss the pasta into salted water to cook add the seitan cutlets and red bell pepper to the tomato sauce and cook to heat both through.

Drain the pasta and add it to the tomato sauce pan and toss to coat with sauce. Taste the pasta for seasoning and add salt and pepper as desired.

Top the pasta with fresh minced parsley and vegan parmesan for garnish. This dish would be great with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil over the top if you want to take the taste over the top.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 452.12
Calories From Fat (5%) - 24.44

Total Fat - 2.79g
Saturated Fat - 0.48g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 443.91mg
Potassium - 662.24mg
Total Carbohydrates - 79.7g
Fiber - 10.6g
Sugar - 5.55g
Protein - 26.9g

Comments:

This is a very mild dish that would be appropriate for people that don’t like a lot of “heat” in their food. If you like things spicy add more crushed red pepper flakes. Had I been making this just for the hubby and I it would have had much more heat.

Sage, rosemary and wine give this dish a heady earthy aroma. If you like fresh sage you will enjoy this dish. I added the red bell peppers at the very end of cooking to keep as much vitamin C in the dish as possible. Since vitamin C is heat sensitive I try to cook foods that contain a lot of C as little as possible.

Traditional Italian pasta dishes contain a small amount of sauce (similar to a dressing on salad). If you like your pasta to have more sauce I would suggest that you add 14 ounces of tomato sauce to the pot, at a minimum.

Each serving of this dish contained approximately 1,175IU of vitamin A, 50mg of vitamin C, 140mg of calcium, 6mg of iron, 85mcg of folate, 50mcg of vitamin K, 320mg of phosphorus, 150mg of magnesium, and 15mcg of selenium.

Unrelated note:

Tomorrow is a little up in the air at my house. I hope to be home to spend some quality relaxing time in the kitchen, however the universe may be conspiring against me. At a minimum I hope to get the final recipe posted on the Ad Hoc site from last week. With a little luck there will be more than one post tomorrow.

I hope you are all having a great evening. Talk to you tomorrow

Herbed Whole-Wheat Spaetzle

This evening we had a very German inspired dinner. My husband, who almost never has any idea of what he wants for dinner, asked for beefy seitan cutlets, with spaetzle and red cabbage. Since I have posted a spaetzle recipe before, I decided to try to simplify the recipe and make it a little different. To accomplish this I added fresh herbs to the batter and it added quite a bit of flavor.

If you are unfamiliar with spaetzle they are little German dumplings. Traditionally they are made with an egg rich batter. They are added to soup or baked in casseroles with cheese. I substituted tofu for egg and used whole-wheat flour instead of white flour. I added fresh parsley to the dough for flavor, color and vitamin K.

Fresh spaetzle is a very quick side dish to prepare. Including boiling water I made this tonight in less than 30 minutes. I served it with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil that I added just prior to serving. Here is what I made tonight.

Herbed Whole-Wheat Spaetzle
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons firm silken tofu, organic
6 tablespoons water
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup fresh parsley, finely minced
1 cup whole-wheat flour

Directions:

Heat a pot of water to a low boil for cooking the spaetzle. Set up another bowl with cold water to place the cooked spaetzle in to keep them from sticking together.

Place the tofu, water, salt, pepper and parsley in your food processor and process.

Combine the flour and herb mixture in a mixing bowl and stir to combine. The mixture should be the consistency of thick waffle batter. You may need to add more water if your mixture is too firm.

Place a spaetzle maker or a colander with large wholes over the pot of simmering water. Use a spatula to place a quarter of the spaetzle batter in the spaetzle maker/colander. Use a silicon spatula to force the dough through the holes. Cook the spaetzle in the simmering water until they float. Then use a slotted spoon to remove the cooked spaetzle to the bowl of cold water. Continue making spaetzle until the dough is gone.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 122.86
Calories From Fat (5%) - 5.68

Total Fat - 0.65g
Saturated Fat - 0.1g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 298.31mg
Potassium - 79.98mg
Total Carbohydrates - 24.53g
Fiber - 1.05g
Sugar - 0.26g
Protein - 4.16g

Comments:

The parsley added a nice flavor to the spaetzle. In fact I liked it so much I don’t know that I will make the plain version very often in the future. Adding parsley to spaetzle worked so well, I will be trying other variations in the future.

Each serving of spaetzle contains approximately 300IU of vitamin A, 60mcg of folate, 60mcg of vitamin K, and 10mcg of selenium.

Unrelated note:

Next I am going to be posting my healthier version of sweet and sour cabbage.

Vegan Neapolitan Lasagna

My hubby loves it when I make Italian food. Since I love it too, I don’t mind complying with those requests. One of his favorite foods is Neapolitan lasagna. It is such a simple dish when he wanted it for Christmas I felt a little guilty because it isn’t much work. But hey, since that is what he wanted who was I to say no.

The last time I made tofu ricotta the taste was so good I knew I was finished playing around with the seasonings. However, the texture was not quite right. This time we have a winner in terms of both texture and flavor. I knew I was finished changing it when my husband asked me to make another one so he could eat it for lunch this week with a big salad. Here is what I made for Christmas dinner.

Vegan Neapolitan LasagnaServes 8

Ingredients:
5 ½ cups meaty tomato sauce
12 whole-wheat lasagna noodles
Vegan Parmesan cheese for topping - optional

Tofu Ricotta Ingredients:
½ cup raw cashews, ground
28 ounces firm water packed tofu, drained and crumbled
2 tablespoons yellow miso
½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 lemon, zested
1 ½ teaspoons oregano, dried
2 cloves garlic, peeled
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
4 teaspoons onion flakes
20 ounces frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
4 tablespoons flour (I have used both whole-wheat and brown rice flours and both work fine)

Directions:
Prepare the sauce, and cool a little to make it easier to work with.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Get out two loaf pans and line them with parchment paper to make it easier to get the lasagna out of the pan after baking.

Cook the lasagna noodles until they are partially cooked, about ½ to 2/3 done. By partially cooking the noodles they will finish cooking in the pan and will absorb any excess liquid making the lasagna more firm and easier to slice.

Place all the ingredients for the tofu ricotta in your food processor and process until combined. My food processor has a 14-cup capacity. If your processor is smaller you may want to make the ricotta in two batches.

Now it is time to layer the lasagna. I started with ½ cup of the tomato sauce, then two lasagna noodles followed by 1/6 of the tofu ricotta. Continue to layer in that order ending with tomato sauce. I had three layers of noodles and ricotta and 4 layers of sauce.

Cover the pans with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes. Take the lasagna out of the oven and uncover the pans. Insert a paring knife into the lasagna to make certain the noodle are tender. Top the lasagna with vegan parmesan (if using) and bake another 15 minutes. Then allow the lasagna to cool for 15 minutes to make it easier to remove from the pan and to slice.

I placed the aluminum foil back on top of the pan and flipped the lasagna out. Then inverted it to a platter. The lasagna held together beautifully. Adding the flour to the ricotta made a huge difference in the texture. It was just as firm as a layer of dairy ricotta, only it was healthy. I love it when an experiment works this well.

Nutritional Information (without optional vegan parmesan):
Amount Per Serving
Calories - 492.69
Calories From Fat (21%) - 105.69

Total Fat - 12.67g
Saturated Fat - 1.60g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 1,308.45mg
Potassium - 4,696.09mg
Total Carbohydrates - 70.02g
Fiber - 23.00g
Sugar - 9.89g
Protein - 43.61g

Comments:
Hands down this is the best vegan lasagna I have made yet. The tofu ricotta was firm, but not too firm. This is definitely my new go to lasagna recipe. When my hubby asked me to make more I said I could make a variation (like artichoke or mushroom) and very quickly said he wanted the spinach version. It looks like there will be some repeats in my future.

A special thank you to Rose at Dandelion for posting the idea of using a loaf pan for lasagna. Such a brilliant idea, thanks again for sharing. It works beautifully to make a small lasagna. I still need to make your delicata squash lasagna. It looks beautiful and sounds amazing.

Unrelated Note:
I am off now to finish dinner for tonight. I will be back later with those recipes. We decided to make posole, salad and a documented version of the queso dip from Thursday.

Whole-Wheat Spaghetti and Cauliflower topped with a Rich White Sauce and Truffle Shavings

Dinner tonight is clearly not a healthy meal. But then again I don’t always have fresh truffle in the refrigerator either. So for tonight health went out the window.

In order to make this meal a little more nutritious than it could have been by using whole wheat pasta and adding lightly steamed cauliflower to the dish.

I made a rich white sauce by using raw cashews and oat flour. This is probably my new favorite vegan white sauce. It is thick and rich and has a mouth feel and flavor that is reminiscent to dairy white sauce made with roux and full fat milk.

Here is the dish I made for dinner tonight.

Whole-Wheat Spaghetti and Cauliflower topped with a Rich White Sauce and Truffle Shavings
Serves 4

Ingredients:

½ cup dry oatmeal
½ cup raw cashews, soaked at least an hour and drained
1 cup water
1 clove garlic, peeled
½ tablespoon nutritional yeast
1 pinch salt, to taste
1 pinch freshly ground black pepper, to taste
8 cups cauliflower florets
1 pound whole-wheat pasta
6 ½ quarts salted water
1 ounce fresh truffle

Directions:

Start the water boiling for the pasta.

Place the oatmeal in your blender and puree until it has turned into flour. Add the cashews, water, garlic and nutritional yeast to the blender and process until smooth.

Cook the sauce over a very low heat, stirring often, while the pasta and cauliflower cook.

If you have a pasta pot with a steamer insert you can cook your pasta and steam the cauliflower at the same time. That is what I did. Otherwise use two pots so the cauliflower and pasta are hot at the same time.

Place the pasta on the bottom of the plate, top with cauliflower, white sauce and shave some fresh truffle on top.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 610.35
Calories From Fat (13%) - 78.07

Total Fat - 9.11g
Saturated Fat - 1.01g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 136.67mg
Potassium - 757.84mg
Total Carbohydrates - 115.22g
Fiber - 20.35g
Sugar - 10.11g
Protein - 23.35g

Comments:

The aroma of the fresh truffles wafting off the hot pasta dish was almost more than my nose could take. I adore the aroma of fresh truffles. As weird as this is I have been taking the truffles out of the refrigerator and opening the container and just smelling them for the last few days. I don’t think there is a better aroma in the world. Needless to say any day when I am using my truffle shaver is a good one at my house.

As you may have guessed I really enjoyed our dinner tonight. This is probably the healthiest meal I have ever made with truffle and it was better than I expected. Part of me considered making ravioli today but decided to make something healthier and I am glad I did. Now I know that the cauliflower and white sauce works really well.

The white sauce is really good when you need a rich sauce. This is probably my favorite version of white sauce. Nutritional yeast adds a little flavor in the background it is not a primary note. It almost adds a butter-like quality to the sauce.

Unrelated Note:

We did have a big bowl of fresh fruit with dinner followed by a green drink. So even though this meal was fairly indulgent overall we have plenty of nutrition.

I hope you all have a great evening.

Seared Cauliflower Steaks and Smoked Mushrooms with Risotto Style Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Seared Bell Pepper

I spent so much time today on vegan demi glace that when I was supposed to make dinner I had given it no thought at all. There was cauliflower in the refrigerator, bell peppers and baby spinach. In the freezer I had smoked mushrooms. When I added some whole-wheat pasta and onion we had dinner.

My hubby walked in when I was making all the components and looked at me oddly, as if to say, “what are we having for dinner”. He doesn’t have a lot of vision when it comes to combining things on the plate. It probably looked like a jumble of different things to him. All the flavors on the plate work together well so you can combine them any way you choose. I thought the presentation I selected looked nice so I went with that. Here is what we had for dinner tonight.

Seared Cauliflower Steaks and Smoked Mushrooms with Risotto Style Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Seared Bell Pepper
Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 cups large cauliflower florets
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 pinch salt
1 cup smoked mushrooms (or regular mushrooms)
1 white onion, peeled and chopped
½ cup water
1 teaspoon olive oil
4 ounces whole wheat spaghetti, broke into 2 inch lengths
1 pinch kosher salt
1 pinch freshly ground black pepper
2 cups baby spinach, julienned
1 cup red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
vegan demi glace – optional for saucing the top (or mushroom gravy)

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees to hold the cooked veggies until the pasta is done.

Start a pan heating with 6 cups of water. This will be what you use to make the risotto style pasta.

Cut the cauliflower in flat slabs (steaks) that are about ¾ inch thick. Heat a small skillet with olive oil and sear each cauliflower steak on both sides. Sprinkle a little salt on both sides of the cauliflower. You want it to still be somewhat firm so that you know you haven’t cooked all the nutrition out of it. Mine were firm enough we used a sharp knife to cut it comfortably. Place the cooked cauliflower on a baking sheet in the oven while you make the next item.

Reheat the smoked mushrooms until hot and move them to the baking sheet with the cauliflower.

Water sauté the onion until tender. Add the olive oil and broken pasta and toss to coat. Cook a minute or two to lightly toast the pasta. Then add the water a few ladles at a time and stir like you are making risotto rice. Add a little salt and pepper to season the pasta. Continue cooking until the pasta is al dente. Be careful not to add too much water at the end of cooking the pasta or it will get mushy.

Wash and julienne the spinach and set aside.

Sear the bell pepper strips quickly to get a little char on the strips leaving them lightly firm to maximize the nutrition.

To plate place the spinach on the bottom on the plate and top with risotto style pasta. Place the bell pepper strips on top the pasta. Next plate the smoked mushrooms and top with cauliflower steaks. If using the vegan demi you can place it on the pasta dish or cauliflower dish.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 353.21
Calories From Fat (17%) - 58.38

Total Fat - 6.63g
Saturated Fat - 0.7g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 349.04mg
Potassium - 663.29mg
Total Carbohydrates -65.63g
Fiber - 12.58g
Sugar - 9.32g
Protein - 12.45g

Comments:

The only important thing to remember when making this is season the pasta adequately so it isn’t bland. You can substitute regular mushrooms for the smoked ones I used. You can also substitute thick mushroom gravy for the vegan demi and it will work just as well.

Unrelated note:

It is getting very late here so I will getting ready to turn in. I hope you all had a great day today.

Macaroni and Cheese with Cauliflower and Tomato

Today was another one of those days when I was out running around almost the entire day. I had a great day with my girlfriend Sue. We went shopping, bought some vegan cookbooks, had a great vegan lunch, stopped at Home Goods, and went to the health food store. Since I don’t have time for a full update on that I will post it tomorrow morning. We had a blast and really picked up some great stuff that I want to share with you.

It was after 5 pm when I got home tonight and I really wasn’t hungry since we had a big lunch. However, the hubby needed to eat so I had to make dinner. Once Janet, at Meatless Mama, posted her macaroni and cheese earlier this week I have been thinking about it ever since and knew that was going to be dinner tonight.

I had soaked my raw cashews a couple of days ago and stored them in the refrigerator so I could make macaroni and cheese tonight. Since we don’t typically eat a lot of pasta I wanted to add some veggies to the dish to reduce the total amount of flour consumed. We had bought cauliflower at the farm market this weekend and since that works so well with cheese I thought it would be great here. Additionally we had grape tomatoes that I wanted to use so those went in the dish as well. I thought about wilting in a little fresh spinach or arugula but decided that may be a little too far from macaroni and cheese. This dish is more healthy than a dairy based macaroni and cheese but isn’t as healthy as most of my recipes. But …. sometimes you just want a little comfort food.

The texture of the sauce is thick and very much like a cheese sauce. I have discovered that if you soak the raw cashews in water for a few hours and drain the water it improves the texture. Soaking seems to soften the cashews so that you get a texture that is much more silky. Here is what I made tonight.

Macaroni and Cheese with Cauliflower and Tomato
Makes 6 servings

Ingredients:

1 yellow onion, peeled and thinly sliced
½ cup water
½ cup oatmeal, dry
1 cup raw cashews, soaked overnight in the refrigerator
2 ½ cups water
2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
¼ cup nutritional yeast
¼ teaspoon turmeric, or as much as you need to achieve the yellow color of your choice
¼ teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
½ tablespoon hot crushed pepper (wet hots)
4 cups cauliflower florets, cut into small bite size florets
3 cups grape tomatoes cut in half
13.25 ounces whole-wheat pasta
2 green onions, finely sliced

Directions:

Start 6 quarts of water boiling to cook the pasta.

Water sauté the onion until it is soft.

Place the oatmeal in your blender and puree until it is finely ground like flour.

While the onion is cooking make the sauce. Add the cashews, water, garlic, nutritional yeast, turmeric, salt and pepper to your blender with the oatmeal and puree. If you think the color should be more yellow add a little more turmeric and puree again. Be careful not to add too much turmeric or you can end up with a sauce with a bitter undertone.

Pour the sauce in the pan with the onions and simmer to thicken. Add the hot crushed pepper and reduce the heat to low and keep it warm while you cook the pasta.

Add the pasta to the boiling water and be certain to stir for the first 15 – 30 seconds to keep the pasta from clumping together. Add a handful of salt to the water to flavor the pasta. Cook the pasta until it is al dente (about a minute or two less than the package indicates). Al dente pasta has a low glycemic index than fully cooked pasta. A lower glycemic index has less impact on blood sugar so I always cook my pasta al dente.

While the pasta is cooking steam the cauliflower. I do this with a steam insert in the pasta pot and pull the cauliflower as soon as it is tender. This took 7 minutes for me.

When you start the cauliflower steaming add the tomatoes to the “cheese sauce so they can begin to soften a little.

Add the tender cauliflower to the “cheese” sauce and leave the heat on low. Toss to combine all the ingredients.

Toss the al dente pasta with the sauce and serve. Top with sliced green onion or cilantro.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 424.03
Calories From Fat (19%) - 78.47

Total Fat - 9.29g
Saturated Fat - 1.32g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 560.97mg
Potassium - 913.32mg
Total Carbohydrates - 72.26g
Fiber - 12.5g
Sugar - 8.46g
Protein - 18.26g

Comments:

This really is a total comfort food dish. It would be perfect on one of those cold or rainy nights. Both the hubby and I really enjoyed this tonight. It would also be good with broccoli florets in the sauce. Additionally I would have liked a little freshly minced parsley on this as a garnish (which would add some vitamin K).

I think this sauce is mild enough in flavor that you could feed it to children. However, you may want to reduce the hot crushed peppers, but I found them to be extremely mild, just a background note. The garlic flavor is also not assertive.

Whole Wheat Spaghetti and Spaghetti Squash with Arugula and Lemon Pesto

Being part Italian when I need a comfort dish I turn to pasta. As far as I am concerned pasta should be a food group. I love pasta like some people love chocolate. I could eat it every night and be perfectly content. Given that pasta is a refined carbohydrate, even when it is whole grain, I know we shouldn’t eat it often. But sometimes it is the only thing I want. Tonight I was in one of those moods.

I added spaghetti squash to reduce the pasta portion size. I made a quick arugula pesto because I love the bitter bite of arugula. Additionally arugula is a member of the cruciferous vegetable family so it is a very healthy part of any diet. The less you cook cruciferous vegetables the more nutritious they are. By using it as pesto it was only heated by the warmth of the pasta. I added lemon juice and zest for flavor and nutrition. Lemon zest contains d-limonene, which has been linked to protection from skin cancer. Walnuts add a wonderful creaminess to the pesto. They mellow the flavor of the arugula just a bit. Additionally the walnuts add omega 3 fatty acids that are anti-inflammatory and are helpful for preventing most typical western diseases.

Don’t let the small number of ingredients fool you. This pasta has a big bold flavor. Particularly if you use the larger more mature arugula. As arugula ages the flavor gets more assertive and I love it, but my hubby thinks it is bitter. Walnuts tame the bitterness enough that he likes it, but I can still enjoy it. Here is what I did.

Whole Wheat Spaghetti and Spaghetti Squash with Arugula and Lemon Pesto
Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 pound of whole-wheat spaghetti
6 cups spaghetti squash, when cooked and shredded
8 cups of arugula (larger arugula has a more bitter bite and is better in this dish)
1 lemon, zested and juice
½ cup walnuts
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil or walnut oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 pinch salt, to taste
1 pinch freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

Cook the spaghetti and squash until the pasta is al dente and the squash yields to the pressure of a paring knife. The spaghetti squash is easiest to cook in the microwave, but you can also bake it in a 350 degree oven cut side down until soft (about an hour).

Combine the arugula, lemon zest, lemon juice, walnuts, oil, and garlic in your food processor and puree. If the pesto is too thick add a little water (a tablespoon at a time).

Toss the pesto with the pasta and spaghetti squash.

If desired you can leave take some of the arugula tops and cut them into bite sized pieces and toss them in the pasta for a textural variation. You could also hold a few of the walnuts back and add them to the top of the dish for garnish if you like.

Serve hot.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 432.37
Calories From Fat (21%) - 91.24

Total Fat - 10.71g
Saturated Fat - 0.92g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 401.45mg
Potassium - 340.59mg
Total Carbohydrates - 75.66g
Fiber - 12.49g
Sugar - 8.03g
Protein - 13.9g

Comments:

When I asked my husband what he thought of dinner he described it as “creamy and bitter” and “flavorful”. I would say this is a fairly good description. The pesto is rich and creamy from the walnuts and oil and a little bitter from the arugula. This is one of my favorite pasta dishes. My father calls it “green pasta”. Both my father and mother liked the pasta tonight. I was a little surprised when they had seconds. Sometimes the parents still surprise me.

The hubby and I are going to watch a movie tonight as soon as I post this entry. I think I am going to make a new popcorn variation tonight. If I like the new flavor I will post it late tonight or tomorrow morning after the farm market. I hope you all have a great evening.

Whole Wheat Penne with Red Sauce, Steamed Cauliflower and Gremolata

My post tonight is more of a concept than a recipe. I wasn’t in the mood to make a complicated dinner or to weigh and measure ingredients this afternoon.

Since my parents were coming for dinner tonight I made a simple red sauce this afternoon because everyone likes pasta and red sauce. I lightly steamed a pound of cauliflower florets to add to the dish. Since the cauliflower is a little chunky I made a whole-wheat penne to more closely match the size of the vegetable. I cooked the pasta al dente to lower the glycemic index. Then I made a modified gremolata with 1 clove of minced garlic, the zest of a lemon, a ¼ cup of fresh minced parsley, a teaspoon of drained capers and a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. I topped the pasta, cauliflower and red sauce with the gremolata and added a sprinkle of toasted pine nuts when I served the dish. Fresh lemon juice was squeezed over the pasta just before serving.

When I am not in the mood to cook I frequently turn to pasta for dinner. Pasta is universally loved, and ridiculously quick and easy.

If you wanted a little more crunch on this pasta you can cook some whole wheat bread crumbs in a little olive oil with garlic until crunchy and top the pasta with that as you would use cheeze. Toasted breadcrumbs are a traditional topping for food in southern Italy.

Curried Ravioli filled with Almond Feta served with an Almond and Pea White Sauce

Last week was a little bumpy at our house, but this week has been fantastic. To celebrate I decided to reward my husband with homemade ravioli since it is his favorite food.

Fresh pasta and curry may sound like an odd combination but it is not as unusual as you may think. I have had a few curry dishes in Venice and was told that the Venetians have been using curry for hundreds of years since they were part of the spice route.

“The Professional Chef” had a curried fettuccini with shrimp that I decided to turn into ravioli. I kept the white sauce of the original recipe (without the heavy cream) and add vegetables for nutrition. This dish took me an hour from beginning to end moving at a leisurely pace. It may take you longer if you haven’t made ravioli before. However, ravioli are very easy to make and you become much faster at making ravioli after a few times.

I added peas to this dish because peas and curry always seem to go together in my mind. Arugula was included on the bottom of the dish for its sharpness. Tomatoes were added for color and flavor.

Curried Ravioli filled with Almond Feta served with an Almond and Pea White Sauce
Serves 2

Ravioli Ingredients:

¼ recipe semolina and sprouted whole-wheat pasta
½ teaspoon curry powder
9 2/3 tablespoons almond feta, or enough to fill the ravioli

Sauce Ingredients:

½ tablespoon canola oil
½ yellow onion, very finely minced
2 cups almond milk, unsweetened
1 tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in 2 tablespoons water
1 cup frozen peas
1 pinch kosher salt
1 pinch freshly ground black pepper

Other Ingredients:

1 red tomato, finely diced for garnish
1 yellow tomato, finely dined for garnish
4 cups baby arugula for the bottom of the plate

Directions:

For the ravioli follow the instructions given here. The only change is to add the curry powder to the dry ingredients. Fill the ravioli as described in the prior recipe. This time I used 1 teaspoon of the almond feta to try to keep the fat down in the dish. Cook the ravioli according to the prior recipe.

For the sauce, sauté the onion in the oil until soft and then add the almond milk and cook for a few minutes. Add the cornstarch and cook until the sauce thickens. Cook the peas for the last few minutes to heat them through. You want them lightly cooked and still a vibrant green. Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste.

To serve, put the baby arugula on the bottom of the plate and top with a little of the pea white sauce. Place the ravioli on top, followed by additional white sauce and finish with the diced tomato. Serve immediately while piping hot.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 444.28
Calories From Fat (34%) - 151.37

Total Fat - 17.85g
Saturated Fat - 1.36g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 631.56mg
Potassium - 1095.84mg
Total Carbohydrates - 61.11g
Fiber - 11.35g
Sugar - 8.71g
Protein - 16.57g

Comments:

The curry flavor is very subtle in this dish, but you can taste it. Only a mild sauce like the one above would work with the curried pasta. Any sauce with more flavor would overtake the subtle pasta. I liked the sharpness of the arugula with the pasta and sauce. Both my husband and I enjoyed this pasta.

This recipe has over 3000 IU’s of vitamin A, 140 mg’s of calcium, 150 mcg’s of folate, 250 mg’s of phosphorus, and 110 mg’s magnesium. I love a ravioli dish that is also packed with nutrition and this one may be my best yet.

Semolina and Sprouted Whole-Wheat Ravioli Dough

Making homemade ravioli is easy, but time consuming. If you don’t have a pasta machine I don’t recommend you try to make ravioli dough by hand. It can be done, but it isn’t easy and normally isn’t rolled thin enough to be pleasant.

This dough has a soft tender texture when cooked. Semolina is light flavored flour unlike the assertive flavor of whole-wheat flour.

If you plan to make ravioli, this is something that is better made ahead since it takes so long. I made mine not long before dinner and was rushing even though I started the dough an hour before dinner. The rolling and filling process always takes longer than you expect it to.

One important thing to remember when making ravioli is that the dough is best worked with when it is first rolled. This means you will roll a sheet or two of dough, fill and form the ravioli and then roll more dough.

Semolina and Sprouted Whole-Wheat Ravioli Dough
Makes enough for approximately 72 ravioli - 2 inch square

Ingredients:

2 cups of semolina flour
½ cup of sprouted whole-wheat flour
1 pinch salt
1 cup of water (more or less)

Directions:

Add dry ingredients to your food processor and pulse to combine. Slowing pour the liquid into the processor while it is running. Stop when you have added ¾ of the water and check the dough texture. Reach into the stopped food processor and grab a chunk of dough the size of a walnut and ball it up in your hands. If the dough sticks together you have added enough water. If it doesn’t turn the processor back on add the water a tablespoon or two at a time and then test the dough consistency.

Remove the dough from the food processor onto a large piece of plastic cling film. Gather the dough into a ball with your hands and wrap it completely in the plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rest for 30 minutes (on the counter is fine) before beginning to roll the dough. When the dough has rested you are ready to roll the dough.

Get your pasta machine (or Kitchen Aid pasta attachment) set on the largest setting. You will also need a large surface to lie out the rolled dough. I use a half sheet pan. Have your flour nearby in case your dough is too damp and needs to be dusted.

Start by cutting off a chunk of the semolina dough that is about ¼ cup in size. This will be enough for two sheets of dough. Begin by flattening the dough with your hands into a reasonably thin flat rectangle. If the dough feels a little damp to the touch lightly dust it with flour and run it through the machine, which you have on the largest setting. If the dough tears it was too thick but this won’t hurt anything. Fold the dough into thirds and run it through the pasta roller again. Continue to fold and roll and pass the dough through on the highest setting. Do this at least 6 times, but more times would also be good. As you do this you will feel the texture of the dough change and become silkier. Dust your dough with flour, as you need it.

After you have rolled the dough on the largest setting at least 6 times you are ready to move the pasta setting down one. I roll the dough twice on each setting as I reduce the thickness of the dough. If you dough gets too long to handle easy cut it in half and make two sheets. Continue rolling until you reach the smallest setting on the pasta machine. Since ravioli is double thickness when filled you want your dough as thin as possible.

When you are finished rolling this one small batch of dough it is time to fill the ravioli. Use a ½ tablespoon measure and place the filling on the sheet of dough about 1 and ½ inches apart. The filling should be on one side of the dough since you are going to fold the dough over on itself to encase the filling.

Use a pastry brush, or your fingers, to moisten the area of dough around the filling to help it seal properly. Now fold over the dough and press the dough together. You want to remove as much air from the filling pocket as possible. This gets much easier the more times you make ravioli.

Use a fluted pastry cutter or knife and separate the sheet of filling dough into ravioli. Lay the filled ravioli on a non-stick half sheet pan, silpat or parchment lined half sheet pan, or a pan that has a light coating of flour. The ravioli can be held in the refrigerator on the sheet pan covered completely covered with plastic cling film for hours. I have made these at lunch and served them for dinner. They will probably hold longer than that if well wrapped but I haven’t tried that.

To cook the ravioli fill a large flat pan with water and bring it to a low boil. Add the ravioli to the pan a few at a time; you don’t want to overcrowd the pan. When the ravioli float they are ready to be served.

Nutritional Information (for the entire recipe):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 1382.4
Calories From Fat (6%) - 83.7

Total Fat - 13.51g
Saturated Fat - 0.5g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 311.14mg
Potassium - 623.67mg
Total Carbohydrates - 287.25g
Fiber - 25.03g
Sugar - 2g
Protein - 50.35g

Comments:

Making ravioli can be intimidating but it isn’t something you need to be concerned about. Ravioli are actually easy to make, but are time consuming. This is great weekend meal, especially when the weather is getting cooler.

I love making ravioli, but it wasn’t always like that. Tricks I learned in cooking class made ravioli much easier to make. I have included those tricks in the directions above but I wanted to repeat them here so they didn’t get lost.

You want the ravioli dough to be a little on the dry side. That is why I suggest adding ¾’s of the water and test the dough instead of waiting for it to form into a ball. Dried dough is easier to roll out.

Rolling the dough many times on the first setting is actually kneading the dough. The multiple folding and rolling of the dough on the first setting results in a much more resilient dough that doesn’t rip or fall about when cooked.

If you have access to a pasta machine I hope you will try making your own ravioli. I find it to be a meditative process.

Potato Gnocchi

(pictured: pillow gnocchi sauteed in Earth Balance seasoned with salt and pepper)

Gnocchi means dumpling in Italian. Most regions have different versions of gnocchi. Sometimes they are made with potato, other times semolina, spinach and ricotta, chestnut flour, or mashed acorn squash. Like pasta, gnocchi are cooked in lightly salted boiling water until they float.

This version of gnocchi is called strangugli and is made without egg. The amount of flour each batch will need depends on the moisture content of the potato. You want to add as little flour as possible since too much with make the dumpling tough and/or heavy. It you aren’t certain if you have added enough flour make a test dumpling and cook it. If it doesn’t fall apart you have added enough flour.

Traditional recipes for potato gnocchi instruct you to boil the potatoes. I tried baking the potatoes a few years ago and it makes for more consistently light dumplings. If you should to boil them you will need to let them dry out before you make the dough.

Potato Gnocchi - Strangugli
Serves 3

Ingredients:

1 pound of potatoes, preferably russet
approximately 3 ounces of flour whole wheat or white
½ teaspoon of kosher salt
fresh ground nutmeg - optional

Directions:

Bake the potatoes until they are tender.

Start a pot of water and bring it to a light boil to cook the gnocchi.

When the potatoes are cool enough to handle use a ricer or a food mill to process the potato. I rice the potato over my cutting board but you can also use a bowl. When the potatoes have been riced add a little flour (half the amount suggested and the salt (nutmeg if using) and knead to form a dough. If the mixture is very soft add a little more flour a tablespoon at a time. When you have used all the flour make a test dumpling and cook it to see if it sticks together. If it does you can form the dumplings now, if not add a little more flour.

There are a few ways to form the dumplings depending on how you are going to use them. If you plan to sauté them after boiling they are prettier if left in little pillow shapes, which is part of the traditional shaping process. If you don’t plan to sauté the gnocchi the traditional shape is described below.

Roll the gnocchi dough into a long cylinder (snake shape) about a half an inch thick on a floured surface. With a knife or a pastry cutter cut the rope into approximately 1 inch lengths. If you go no further this is the pillow shape I referred to above. For the traditional shape you take the pillow and press it into a fork (or gnocchi board) forming a ridge on the outside and the dimple on the inside. The final gnocchi should be a crescent shape. I will post a recipe with the traditional shape in the future so you can see the shape.

Drop some of the gnocchi into the pot of simmering water. You don’t want to crowd the gnocchi so you will need to do this in batches. The gnocchi will float to the surface when they are cooked. This will happen quickly, in a minute or two. Remove the gnocchi with a slotted spoon to a warm bowl or pan and continue to cook the remaining dumplings.

If you aren’t going to eat them right away you can freeze them at this stage in a single layer on a sheet tray. When they are completely frozen you can bag them for long-term freezer storage.

You can saute the gnocchi in a little olive oil or earth balance if you choose. That is how I served them tonight with the sweet and sour cabbage.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 256.11
Calories From Fat (1%) - 2.6

Total Fat - 0.31g
Saturated Fat - 0.07g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 323.83mg
Potassium - 1075.42mg
Total Carbohydrates - 57.62g
Fiber - 3.26g
Sugar - 0.1g
Protein - 6.65g

Comments:

Making gnocchi is somewhat addictive for me. I love the soft tender pillowy texture of the gnocchi. They are great with a white sauce and breadcrumbs or as I am serving them tonight with cavalo agro dolce (sweet and sour cabbage).

Whole Wheat Penne Sauced with Tomato, Pepper and Zucchini and Sweet Italian Seitan Sausage

I wasn’t feeling very inspired today to make anything fancy or fussy. The weather is cool and dreary so I wanted a hot comfort food meal. Since we still had a few sweet Italian seitan sausages in the refrigerator I knew tonight had to be Italian food night and that meant pasta.

While this wasn’t a traditional Labor Day meal everyone enjoyed it.

Whole Wheat Penne Sauced with Tomato, Pepper and Zucchini and Sweet Italian Seitan Sausage
Serves 6

Ingredients:

½ tablespoon canola oil
2 red onions, finely diced
6 cloves of garlic, finely minced
3 stalks of celery, finely diced including leaves
28 ounces tomatoes, diced
14 ounces tomato sauce
4 sweet Italian seitan sausages cut in half-length wise and then into ¼ inch half moons
1 teaspoon oregano, dried
2 teaspoons fennel seed
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 red bell pepper, seeded and finely sliced into bite size pieces
2 zucchini cut in half-length wise and then into ½ inch half moons
13.25 ounces of whole grain penne pasta
6 quarts of boiling salted water to cook pasta
¼ cup of fresh basil, torn

Directions:

Sauté the onion, garlic, and celery in the canola oil until everything is soft. Add the tomatoes, seitan, oregano, fennel, paprika and cook for at least an hour over low heat stirring occasionally. If your sauce begins to stick add a little water or white wine and continue cooking. Thirty minutes before you are ready for dinner add the red bell pepper to the sauce. Fifteen minutes before dinner add the zucchini to the sauce so that it will retain a little firm texture.

Cook the pasta two minutes less than the package directions and check it for tenderness. When the pasta is al dente, tender but a little firm, drain it and add it to the sauce and cook for another minute or two to encourage the pasta to absorb the sauce.

Tear fresh basil onto the top of the plated pasta and sauce and serve while still hot.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 486.04
Calories From Fat (9%) - 42.34

Total Fat - 4.85g
Saturated Fat - 0.29g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 641.14mg
Potassium - 917.24mg
Total Carbohydrates - 83.23g
Fiber - 15.02g
Sugar - 11.94g
Protein - 32.87g

Comments:

This is definitely a comfort food meal. I love pasta with a good red sauce especially when it has sweet Italian sausage. The seitan sausage worked well in this sauce. I seasoned the sauce with the same spices that went into the sausage and it made the pasta all taste like sweet Italian sausage.

Once again omnivores and vegans enjoyed this meal. Thank goodness I finally figured out how to make seitan that is omnivore approved. It took a while, but I feel certain that I finally know the secret; thoroughly saturated whole wheat bread crumbs make a huge difference in the texture of the sausage.

Moroccan Braised Seitan with Onions, Raisins and Almonds

We spent much of the day shopping so I needed a meal that would come together without a lot of babysitting in the kitchen. Whenever I need to something low maintenance I turn to seitan sausages or roasts. Today I wanted to make a Moroccan dish that is loosely based on a lamb dish.

Like much Moroccan food this entrée combines sweet with savory but is definitely more savory than sweet. If you taste this sauce while you are cooking you will think it has too much flavor. Don’t worry it is intentionally flavorful to compensate for the blandness of the couscous. When all the components are married the flavor intensity is right.

The Turkish figs and marmite were added to the braising liquid to make it dark like it would be traditionally. They also help the sauce to thicken as it reduces. The lemon juice is not traditional in this dish but we both (my husband and I) thought this dish needed a little acid to round out the flavor.

Here is the big shock of dinner tonight. We had dinner with my 80 year omnivore parents this evening (I like to make certain they eat a few healthy meals a week, not an easy task) and both of them not only liked it but said they would eat seitan again. You could have knocked me over with a feather. To say I was shocked doesn’t even begin to explain my reaction. When my midwestern parents will eat a faux meat product willingly, I know I am on to something. If you have omnivores you want to cook for consider trying this recipe. It worked with the most hard-core omnivores I know.

Moroccan Braised Seitan with Onions, Raisins and Almonds
Serves 5

Braise Ingredients:

1 recipe for seitan roast with bread crumbs
1 yellow onion, finely diced
enough water to cover seitan
¼ teaspoon ginger, powdered
½ teaspoon cinnamon
4 whole cloves
1 pinch saffron
½ teaspoon of marmite
2 Turkish figs, dried, finely diced
1 lemon, juiced

Topping Ingredients:

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, finely sliced
1/3 cup of golden raisins, soaked in water to cover for 20 minutes
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup of almonds

Couscous Ingredients:

1 cup of whole-wheat couscous
1 ¼ cups water
1 pinch of salt
¼ cup of Turkish apricots, dried and unsulfured, finely diced
1 lemon, zested

Directions:

Prepare the seitan in the prior recipe. Cut it into bite sized chunks and return to the pan the seitan was braised in. Add the onions and seasonings (except the lemon juice) and cover with water so that it just covers the seitan. Cook on low for at least 30 minutes to allow the figs to dissolve and the flavors in the sauce to marry.

While the seitan is braising make the onion topping. Add the olive oil, onion, raisins and soaking water, and cinnamon and cook until the raisins plump, water has evaporated and onions are golden. When the onions are caramelized add the slivered almonds and cook to heat through.

When the onions are caramelized begin cooking the couscous. Combine the couscous, water, salt and diced apricots and microwave until the water is absorbed. The water was absorbed in 3 minutes in my microwave. Allow the couscous to stand for a few minutes before removing the lid. Add the lemon zest and fluff the couscous before serving.

To plate the dish put the couscous in the bottom of deep bowl and make a trough in the center for the braised seitan. Top with the onion, raisin and almond mixture. Serve hot with a lemon wedge on the side.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 647.09
Calories From Fat (18%) - 115.1

Total Fat - 13.27g
Saturated Fat - 1.7g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 657.63mg
Potassium - 627.75mg
Total Carbohydrates - 79.02g
Fiber - 9.22g
Sugar - 18.73g
Protein - 56.62g

Comments:

My husband and I were discussing dinner a few minutes ago and I asked him what he thought. He told me he wouldn’t change a thing. I suppose this means the recipe has the husband seal of approval.

While it isn’t traditional I would like to see something green in this dish. I would recommend you add a little fresh minced parsley to the couscous when you fluff it. Don’t forget to serve this with lemon wedges. I think the acid is necessary to cut through the sweetness.

Whole Wheat Pasta with Fresh Tomato, Fennel and Sweet Italian Seitan Sausage

When I haven’t planned dinner I frequently make pasta because it is something I had done hundreds if not thousands of times in my life. Quick sauces are very useful when you are short on time. I prefer my fennel completely cooked which is why this went into the pot early. The fresh spinach was included at the end for added nutrition. The raw yellow tomatoes were added for fresh texture and their color.

Whole Wheat Pasta with Fresh Tomato, Fennel and Sweet Italian Seitan Sausage
Serves 5

Ingredients:

13.25 ounce box of Barilla whole grain rotini
½ tablespoon of canola oil
1 yellow onion, sliced thinly
1 fennel bulb, sliced thin
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon of fennel seeds
1 pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon of kosher salt
½ teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
8 cups of fresh tomatoes, diced
2 sweet Italian seitan sausages, sliced thinly
8 cups of baby spinach, cleaned and torn in half
3 cups of yellow tomato, diced

Directions:

Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Begin checking the pasta for tenderness two minutes before the package indicates it will be ready. You want to remove the pasta when it is almost cooked and finish it in the sauce so that it absorbs the flavors of the sauce.

While the pasta is cooking make the sauce. Sauté the onion, fennel, garlic, fennel, red pepper, kosher salt and black pepper in the canola oil. Continue cooking, stirring every minute or so, until the onion is soft. Add the fresh tomatoes and seitan sauces and cook to heat through.

When the pasta is ready add it to the sauce and toss to combine. After a minute or two turn off the heat and add the raw spinach and toss it with the pasta. Serve immediately and top with the raw yellow tomatoes.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 501.54
Calories From Fat (9%) - 46.84

Total Fat - 5.38g
Saturated Fat - 0.31g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 629.35mg
Potassium - 1444.11mg
Total Carbohydrates - 92.05g
Fiber - 17.47g
Sugar - 12.11g
Protein - 28.29g

Comments:

This is one of those quick dinners that I rely on when I haven’t planned or spent the day the cooking. The sauce came together while the pasta was cooking. The flavors of this dish are classically southern Italian.